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Paul Van Valkenburgh Added To Peter Bryant Challenger Award Trophy
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Paul Van Valkenburgh's name will be added to the perpetual Peter Bryant Challenger Award Trophy in recognition of his work in and many contributions to motorsports engineering.
"Paul's pioneering work in the sport, and his innate ability to communicate the principles behind highly technical ideas in mechanical engineering, mark him as someone who made sense of the 'magic' by showing us that it really wasn't magic in the first place," said Bryant Award committee chairperson Doug Stokes.
Van Valkenburgh's 1976 book "Race Car Engineering & Mechanics" explained the "how's" and "why's" of modern race car engineering and was written in a friendly, open style that made the information as interesting as it was informative.
A year earlier, Van Valkenburgh had co-written the motorsports classic "The Unfair Advantage" the story of his work with racing champion Mark Donohue. Voiced by Donohue (himself an engineer), the book reveals much of Van Valkenburgh's work ethic and quest for speed that always was based in science (and a lot of hard work).
Van Valkenburgh's explanation of the dynamics of the traction circle demystified the subject for many and pointed out how seemingly small things, when added up and aligned carefully, were very often the difference between winning and finishing second.
His years with Chevrolet Racing as a top motorsports research engineer found him embedded in the inner-workings of several very high-profile racing scenarios and saw him working with Donohue, Roger Penske, and Jim Hall, and led to the “highly controversial at the time” 1972 book, Chevrolet - Racing? Fourteen Years of Raucous Silence! 1957-1970.”
Today, Van Valkenburgh is a regular columnist for RACER ENGINEERING Magazine and writes occasional tech pieces for ROAD & TRACK, CORVETTE FEVER, GRASSROOTS RACING, and DRAG RACER.
The Bryant award was first presented at the 2010 Riverside Raceway reunion the year after Bryant's passing. The first recipient was Howden Ganley, followed by Phil Remington (2011), Bruce Burness (2012), Trevor Harris (2013), Tyler Alexander (2014), Alwin Springer (2015), Ike Smith (2016), Dan Gurney (also in 2016), Joe Cavaglieri (2017) and Jimmy Dilamarter (2018).
"Paul's pioneering work in the sport, and his innate ability to communicate the principles behind highly technical ideas in mechanical engineering, mark him as someone who made sense of the 'magic' by showing us that it really wasn't magic in the first place," said Bryant Award committee chairperson Doug Stokes.
Van Valkenburgh's 1976 book "Race Car Engineering & Mechanics" explained the "how's" and "why's" of modern race car engineering and was written in a friendly, open style that made the information as interesting as it was informative.
A year earlier, Van Valkenburgh had co-written the motorsports classic "The Unfair Advantage" the story of his work with racing champion Mark Donohue. Voiced by Donohue (himself an engineer), the book reveals much of Van Valkenburgh's work ethic and quest for speed that always was based in science (and a lot of hard work).
Van Valkenburgh's explanation of the dynamics of the traction circle demystified the subject for many and pointed out how seemingly small things, when added up and aligned carefully, were very often the difference between winning and finishing second.
His years with Chevrolet Racing as a top motorsports research engineer found him embedded in the inner-workings of several very high-profile racing scenarios and saw him working with Donohue, Roger Penske, and Jim Hall, and led to the “highly controversial at the time” 1972 book, Chevrolet - Racing? Fourteen Years of Raucous Silence! 1957-1970.”
Today, Van Valkenburgh is a regular columnist for RACER ENGINEERING Magazine and writes occasional tech pieces for ROAD & TRACK, CORVETTE FEVER, GRASSROOTS RACING, and DRAG RACER.
The Bryant award was first presented at the 2010 Riverside Raceway reunion the year after Bryant's passing. The first recipient was Howden Ganley, followed by Phil Remington (2011), Bruce Burness (2012), Trevor Harris (2013), Tyler Alexander (2014), Alwin Springer (2015), Ike Smith (2016), Dan Gurney (also in 2016), Joe Cavaglieri (2017) and Jimmy Dilamarter (2018).
